Minnesota History Center Hosts Thought-Provoking Lecture Series

ST. PAUL, Minn (November 15, 2024) –  Since 2004, the Minnesota Historical Society’s History Forum has welcomed some of the nation’s leading scholars and historians to St. Paul to help enrich our understanding of American history. 

This year’s line-up, running from November 2024 through April 2025, features a range of speakers who demonstrate excellence in historical scholarship and showcase the complexity, diversity, and power of our shared American story.

History Forum lectures include:

Workers, Nature, & Environmental Conflict in Pacific Northwest Timber Country

November 16, 2024 with Steven C. Beda

In his new book Strong Winds and Widow Makers, Steven C. Beda challenges popular narratives about the clashes between timber workers, environmentalists, and employers. Highlighting the voices of timber workers themselves, Beda reveals a complex and nuanced history of timber-working communities and their connections to the environment, a relationship colored by class, community, understandings of nature, forest science, politics, popular culture, and economics. This in-depth look at workers embedded in the forest reveals an ethic of stewardship built around protecting jobs, protecting the forest, and protecting an important part of their own identities.

Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad

December 7, 2024 with Matthew Delmont

More than one million Black soldiers served in World War II, serving in segregated units while waging a dual battle against inequality in the very country for which they were laying down their lives. The stories of these Black veterans have long been ignored, cast aside in favor of the myth of the “Good War” fought by the “Greatest Generation.” And yet without their sacrifices, the United States could not have won the war. In his new book Half American, Matthew Delmont tells the stories of Black military heroes and civil rights icons that fought for a Double Victory: against facism abroad and against racism at home. An essential and meticulously researched retelling of the war that honors the men and women who dared to fight not just for democracy abroad, but for their dreams of a freer and more equal America.

The Girls Who Desegregated America’s Schools

January 11, 2025 with Rachel Devlin

Historian Rachel Devlin shows how young Black girls were at the center of the grassroots movement to desegregate America’s schools and fight racial inequity in public education. In her award-winning book A Girl Stands at the Door, Devlin takes us beyond the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision and refocuses our attention on the remarkable stories of the young Black girls who led the fight. From filing desegregation lawsuits with their parents, to bravely enduring harassment and abuse while integrating formerly all-white schools, Black girls took on the difficult work of reaching across the color line in public schools. A revelatory history that recovers the underappreciated contributions of a generation of civil rights pioneers. 

Citizens of a Stolen Land: A Conversation of Ho-Chunk History & Survivance

February 15, 2025 with Stephen Kantrowitz & Josie Lee

Join historian Stephen Kantrowitz and Josie Lee, Director of the Ho-Chunk Nation Museum & Cultural Center, for a conversation on Ho-Chunk history, land, and contemporary life. Together, they will speak about Kantrowitz’s new book Citizens of a Stolen Land: A Ho-Chunk History of Nineteenth-Century United States and Lee’s work in promoting, sheltering, and preserving past, present, and future Ho-Chunk ways of life. Kantrowitz’s book reconsiders the Civil War and Reconstruction eras by centering the Ho-Chunk and their strategic navigation of colonization, citizenship, and race to remain in their homelands and protect their sovereignty.

Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America

March 15, 2025 with Rebecca L. Davis

In her new book Fierce Desires, Rebecca L. Davis charts the shifting and multiple roles that sex and sexuality have played in our societies and identities over more than 400 years. Drawing on a wealth of sources, Davis’s rigorous research and wide scope provides the oft-missing historical depth needed to understand how and why sexuality and gender have taken center stage in some of today’s most polarizing debates. Featuring stories across a wide spectrum of the United States, Davis demonstrates how fiercely we have valued our desires, and how far we are willing to go to defend them.

Asian American Histories of the United States

April 12, 2025 with Catherine Ceniza Choy

Award-winning historian Catherine Ceniza Choy’s Asian American Histories of the United States is a nearly 200-year history of Asian migration, labor, and community formation in the US. Reckoning with the surge in anti-Asian violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, Choy presents an urgent social history of the fastest growing group of Americans. The book features the lived experiences and diverse voices of immigrants, refugees, US-born Asian Americans, multiracial Americans, and workers from industries spanning agriculture to healthcare. Despite significant Asian American breakthroughs in American politics, arts, and popular culture in the 21st century, a profound lack of understanding of Asian American history permeates American culture. This ambitious book is fundamental to understanding the American experience and its existential crises of the early 21st century.

Each event will be offered virtually and also in-person at the Minnesota History Center at 11 am. Live captioning will be available for all lectures. Individual event tickets: In-person $20, Virtual $15. For series pricing (all events events): In-person $105, Virtual $78.

MNHS members save 20% and free student rush tickets will be available day-of with student ID, K-12 and college (as space allows). Visit our website for additional series information and to purchase tickets.

About the Minnesota Historical Society

The Minnesota Historical Society is a non-profit educational and cultural institution established in 1849. MNHS collects, preserves, and tells the story of Minnesota’s past through museum exhibits, libraries and collections, historic sites, educational programs, and book publishing. Using the power of history to transform lives, MNHS preserves our past, shares our state’s stories, and connects people with history.